The present invention relates generally to a printed circuit board mounting standoff, and, more particularly, to a printed circuit board mounting system wherein a preset dimension is defined between one side of the printed circuit board and a reference surface.
The usage of a spacing member to separate two of more planes is well known. In the printed circuit field, it is desirable to affix a printed circuit board to a reference surface such a casing or other related surfaces. The printed circuit board typically has two sides. A side that has most of components mounted upon is generally known as the primary side. Consequentially, the other side of the printed circuit board is generally known as the secondary side. Various mounting schemes are known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,639 describes a temporary fixing member that couples a plurality of printed circuit boards. U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,495 describes a device which uses the secondary side as a reference plane for spacing between adjacent planar elements in electronic devices. U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,140 describes a support for two printed circuit boards parallel to each other. U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,772 describes a mount on a printed circuit board with a fixed spaced relationship to a second mounting plate is described. However, these prior art mounting schemes do not address a requirement of a component mounted on the primary side of the printed circuit board needs to be aligned with a point on a component outside of the printed circuit board mounting system, the aforementioned mounting systems do not satisfy the requisite alignment because variations in thickness of the printed circuit board may cause misalignment.
The above-discussed and other drawbacks and deficiencies of the prior art are overcome or alleviated by a printed circuit board top side mounting standoff of the present invention. A printed circuit board top side mounting system is presented and includes a printed circuit board having a primary side and a secondary side and a surface member having a point with a constant distance with the primary side. A standoff with an elongated shape having a predetermined set dimension including a segment with the constant distance disposed in going through a slot in the printed circuit board is also described. The standoff further includes a first end disposed to fixing the first end rigidly on the printed circuit board, as well as a second end disposed to connecting rigidly to the surface member. In other words, a printed circuit board top side mounting standoff is described such that the primary side of the printed circuit board stays at a constant distance in relation to a third point caused by the predetermined set dimension including a segment with the constant distance disposed in going through a slot in the printed circuit board.